Greenhouse



NOV. 8, 1938. J H, K E 2,136,192

GREENHOUSE Filed Oct. 29, 1937 Il/ I a, JAMES H. KANE ATTORNEY INVENTOR:

Patented Nov. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES GREENHOUSE James H. Kane, San Francisco, Calif., assignor of one-half to Albert T. Roche, San Francisco,

Calif.

Application October 29, 1937, Serial No. 171,748

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in greenhouses, and more particularly, to protectors for glass structures. The greenhouse industry suffers severe loss of glass greenhouses and their contents from destruction by hailstones. This industry has about two hundred million square feet of glass annually threatened by this danger in the hail areas of this country. Various protective measures, such as double thick glass, with increased expense, and other means to minimize the loss have been resorted to.

Among the objects of this invention is to provide a self supporting guard, preferably composed of wire meshreinforced in accordance with the present invention, that may be readily applied to and removed from the exposed areas of these green houses.

Another object is to eliminate the necessity for double-thick glass.

Another object is to provide protection at a cost commensurate with the saving in the cost of the extra thick glass and hail insurance.

Another object is to provide the necessary protection with minimum obstruction to the passage of light through the glass during the winter season.

Inasmuch as the guard does cast shadows upon the glass,'the guard can be used in very hot weather with the object of minimizing sun rays passing through the glass.

Another object is to avoid the use of any bulky structure above the greenhouse that will cast shadows thereon.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description progresses.

In this specification and the accompanying drawing, the invention is disclosed in its preferred form. But it is to be understood that it is not limited to this structure because it may be embodied in other forms within the purview of the claims following the description.

In the accompanying one sheet of drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional greenhouse having a hail guard applied thereto in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail of a portion of the roof of the same.

In detail, the construction illustrated in the drawing, referring first to Fig. 1, comprises a conventional greenhouse mounted upon a suitable foundation (not shown) and having the usual wall framing (not shown in detail) which supports the rafters [and 2 resting upon the top plates of which the gutters 3 and 4 are a part. These rafters meet at the ridge pole 5 to form the usual A truss to support the roof. These rafters form the side stiles of supporting frame units and are rabbeted on each side as shown in Fig. 2 to receive the glass 6 resting therein and sealed by the putty I in the usual manner. At desired intervals the roof is provided with ventilators, as at 8, consisting of hinged sashes glazed in the usual manner and adapted to be manipulated from within the greenhouse.

The side walls of the greenhouse are similarly constructed of glazed frame work extending from the baseboard 9 to the rafters. There is a wide variety of architectural structures entering into greenhouses of various types to which the present invention is easily adapted by those skilled in the art.

The guard IE! is preferably composed of strips of conventional wire netting of about one-half inch meshcomposed of about 18 gauge wire galvanized or otherwise treated to withstand the action of the elements. Standard widths of such netting run about three feet wide by one hundred feet long. These dimensions are merely suggestive. Finer wire and closer mesh is equally applicable for the purpose.

At suitable intervals these reticulate strips are provided with corrugations such as H forming transverse depressed ribs. Starting at the ridgepole 5 these strips are laid on top of the glazed frames forming the roof of the greenhouse and extend to the gutter at 4. The transverse ribs H rest upon the tops of the various rafters l-2, as shown in Fig. 2. The guard is cut away to fit around the various ventilators 8. These ventilators are provided with similar guards attached thereto and adapted to rise and fall therewith. When permanently installed, the upper ends of these strips of wire mesh are attached to the ridgepole 5 by stapling or otherwise, and are similarly attached to the lower end of the rafters l adjacent the gutters 3 and 4. The lateral edges or selvages of the woven strips are slightly overlapped where they meet, the ribs of the succeeding strips lying within the ribs of the preceding strip until the whole roof area is covered by the reticulate guard, leaving the ventilators free to be raised or lowered as desired.

In certain localities where it is desirable to remove the guards to take full advantage of the sunshine, between seasons of expected hail storms, the ends of the strips may be provided with the battens such as 12 and I3 at the ridge pole and the gutters respectively, as shown in Fig. 1. These battens may be detachably attached to the ridgepole and the gutter so that the strips may be removed from the roof and rolled up for convenient storage between seasons. For application to the smaller greenhouse units, the strip may be fastened at the gutter 3, carried up and over the ridgepole 5, and down the opposite side to the gutter 4, in which instance it will not be necessary to otherwise attach the guard to the ridgepole 5. If it is desirable to run the length of the guard lengthwise of the roof, the ribs II can be arranged obliquely across the strip so that the ribs will bridge across between any two rafters I so that the ribs do not rest upon the glass 6. However, there is no particular disadvantage in the ribs resting upon the glass, since the glass will only have to support the weight of the guard which is light compared with the area covered.

The major advantage of the ribs is that the plane of the wire guard does not lie in surface contact with the area of glass to be protected. Otherwise the flat or u-nribbed wire guard, in yielding to a hail storm, would fail to break the force of the impact with resultant glass breakage or fracture.

For the protection of the end and side walls of the greenhouse, the wire guard is applied in an obvious manner, as indicated in Fig. 1. These walls are substantially the same structure as that described with respect to the roof. The ribs I l in the sideguards, as thus applied, would bridge across the frames forming these glazed walls.

While the use of reticulate metal lathing on solid building walls may be old, so far as I am aware a wire guard has never been spaced from a fragile surface by means of ribs formed therein, for the purpose of enabling the guard to yield toward the surface and thereby to absorb the force of an impact as accomplished by the present invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A protector for a glazed greenhouse comprising reticulate strips with transverse ribs depressed in the body thereof and supported by "the glazed areas of said greenhouse.

3. A protector for a glazed greenhouse comprising reticulate strips detachably attached at the ridge pole and eaves of said house and having\ transverse ribs depressed therein and supported\ by the frame work of the glazed areas of said l house.

4. A protector for a glazed green house, comprising a reticulate strip having spacing portions depressed in the body of said strip below the top plane thereof.

5. A protector for a glazed green house, comprising a reticulate strip having spacing portions depressed in the body of said strip below the top plane and extending across the Width of said strip.

6. A protector for a glazed green house comprising a reticulate strip having spacing means extending across the width thereof.

7. A protector for a glazed greenhouse having rafters extending from the ridge pole to the eaves thereof, comprising reticulate strips extending from the ridge pole to the said eaves and having interlocking depressed open ribs therein supported by said rafters.

S. A protector for a glazed greenhouse comprising parallel reticulate strips having open ribs depressed in the body thereof, the ribs of contiguous strips being interlocked end supported by the glazed areas of said greenhouse.

JAMES H. KANE. 

